UK singer Molly Smitten-Downes heads into tomorrow's Eurovision Song Contest trailing favourites Sweden but is still strongly fancied, according to bookies.

The 27-year-old - who will perform Children Of The Universe at the event in Copenhagen tomorrow - is ranked at 9/1 to triumph by bookmaker William Hill, with Sweden's Sanna Nielsen's track Undo heading the field at 11/4.

The UK is hoping to improve its fortunes after two woeful years when veteran acts Engelbert Humperdinck and Bonnie Tyler were chosen and languished towards the bottom end of the voting table.

Molly will be the last act to perform on the night, with Eurovision experts saying it is a good position because the song will still be fresh in the memory as voting begins.

She landed her place in the final because the UK is one of the competition's five big players who, along with the host nation, get an automatic place.

However Ireland, which has often performed well in the contest, have not been so lucky, with their entry, Kasey Smith, crashing out in the semi-final stages this week.

Austrian drag act Conchita Wurst - the "bearded lady" - has got through to tomorrow's finale, which will be broadcast live by BBC1.

Molly's effort has so far failed to resonate with music buyers at home, with the song likely to achieve number 34 in the singles chart, according to latest figures from the Official Charts Company.

However, even that lowly placing is better than the past two efforts, with Tyler's 2013 song failing to chart and Engelbert Humperdinck's entry the year before only making it to number 60.

Bookmaker Hill is predicting the biggest year yet for betting on the contest as it predicts more than £1 million will be placed in stakes.

Spokesman Rupert Adams said: "We have never seen so many bets on the Eurovision Song Contest - records could be broken and there is even a chance we will see a UK winner."

Latest odds:

:: 11/4 - Sweden

:: 3/1 - Netherlands

:: 7/2 - Austria

:: 5/1 - Armenia

:: 9/1 - UK

:: 12/1 - Hungary

:: 14/1 - Ukraine

:: 20/1 - Greece

:: 25/1 - Denmark

:: 33/1 - Norway, Spain

:: 40/1 - Azerbaijan

:: 50/1 - Finland, Malta, Romania

:: 66/1 - Italy, Switzerland

:: 80/1 - Poland

:: 100/1 - Iceland

:: 125/1 France, Russia

:: 150/1 - Germany, Montenegro, Slovenia

:: 250/1 - Belarus, San Marino

Comments (1)

I want Conchita Wurst who represents Austria to win as she identifies as gender neutral. Hopefully such publicity will raise awareness that there are people who conform outside of the gender binary and that we need legal recognition and protection.

I want Conchita Wurst who represents Austria to win as she identifies as gender neutral. Hopefully such publicity will raise awareness that there are people who conform outside of the gender binary and that we need legal recognition and protection.Katie Re-Registered

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